Preschoolers' Strategies of Attention on a Same-Different Task

Forty-six preschoolers were asked to decide whether two rows of drawings of objects were exactly the same by opening the doors that covered the drawings. Four-year-olds, but generally not 3-year-olds, used the most efficient strategy, opening vertically aligned pairs of doors to compare spatially corresponding parts of the rows. Producing this strategy was associated with more accurate same-different judgments. Furthermore, the 4-year-olds improved their strategies significantly, although modestly, over some of the six trials. Earlier phases of strategy development were seen in the use of inefficient, but systematic, spatial strategies in 3-year-olds and partial use of efficient or inefficient strategies in both 3- and 4-year-olds. Children rarely gathered information randomly. Results are discussed in terms of a multifaceted change in strategy production and utilization that extends over several years. Several limitations of 4-year-olds' strategic behavior were also identified.